Adams says Keenan Cooper would have celebrated his 20th birthday next week. He was due to wrap up his first tour of duty in Afghanistan next month, and was to get married in October. He was home to visit last month.

Cooper's fiancee, April Travis, plans to be at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware when his body is returned Wednesday.

Insurgent attacks have been increasing in much of the Afghanistan as NATO ramps up a crucial push to bring security to Taliban-dominated areas in the south after nearly nine years of war.